"Rip" wrote in message
. net...
Jay Honeck wrote:
I strip a fair number of screws every year -- but I've NEVER had to
drill any out on either of the planes we've owned.

Can you replace them with Torx screws?


I don't know.

In the "real world" that is a no-brainer. In the bizarro world of the
FAA, I have no idea if Torx screws are legal...

Toecutter? Jim Weir? Jim Macklin? Can we, as owners, use any old
fasteners we want for all those access panels?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Technically,no. At least on an aircraft with a type certificate. Quick
example. The Navion has fairly large panels under the wings that provide
access to the gear retract mechanism. I constantly see that owners have
replaced the fasteners for those panels with bright, shiny, stainless
steel screws of various quality. But they are structural panels, and the
screws have to be structural fasteners (the Navion has no wing spar, per
se, and the skin is an integral part of its strength). There are
structural stainless steel replacements, but you all be careful out there!

Rip

Exactly right. If you look through the Aircraft Spruce catalog you'll find
several different strengths of screws. Some are 30,000 lb/square inch, some
are 55,000/square inch, etc. In some applications (probably the Navion, as
pointed out above), it makes a difference which screw you use. If you go
down to the local hardware store and buy Torx fasteners, you'll probably
never know if the fastener you chose has the correct strength.

Now, if someone made an AN series torx head screw that was substitutable for
the AN series of Phillips screws, I'm sure all of us would beat a path to
that guy or gal's doorstep. Unfortunately, at $0.05/screw (which is
probably the selling price to the Aircraft Spruce's of the world), it would
take a long, long time for that investment to pay off for someone.

KB